Chapter 13. Deformers

Maya's deformers allow you to reshape geometry in a variety of ways. They can speed up many modeling tasks, from adjusting a model's proportions to adding detailed wrinkles to a high-resolution mesh. Deformers are also very useful for animation, whether you want to create ripples across a surface or make a character smile (Figure 13.1).

Figure 13.1. This alien's smile was created with a blend shapes deformer.

Maya's deformers include the nonlinear deformers bend, flare, sine, squash, twist, and wave; as well as the blend shapes, lattices, clusters, sculpt, jiggle, wire, wrinkle, and wrap deformers. All of these deformers have various settings that allow you to control exactly how they affect the surface to which you apply them. You can combine as many deformers as you need to achieve your desired effect (Figure 13.2).

Figure 13.2. Sine, bend, and flare deformers combine to turn a plane (left) into a skirt (right).